2 Samuel 3:38 And the king said to his servants, Know you not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? 1. Our first lesson has reference to the dealings of God's Providence, and is one of encouragement. We are not sufficiently accustomed to recognize the hand of Providence in the ordinary arrangements of Society, and are too prone to think and act as though we regarded the affairs of nations as lying, if not beyond the range of Divine power, at least beyond the pale of Divine sympathy and interest. Yet to an observant and pious mind, there can be few studies more. interesting than to trace the indications of the presence of God amid all the affairs of men, and to educe that testimony which all history bears to his good. ness, his wisdom, and his power. How manifest does this appear in the history of the Jewish people. God designed them to occupy a special position and to do an important work, and all his dispensations towards them were designed to discipline and prepare them for that work. And it is scarcely too much to infer from the eminence to which our country has been raised, and the influence which she wields, that there is a special mission entrusted to her — that it is from her, directly or indirectly, that the instrumentality is to go forth by which the universal conquests of the cross are to be achieved, and that all God's dispensations towards her have been designed to fit her for this glorious enterprize. Again and again has God raised up the men suited for the peculiar crisis through which she has been called to pass — an Alfred, a Cromwell, a William of Orange, and: a Wellington — men, each of whom was fitted for his times and for his work. But we have partially profited by the lesson thus conveyed, if our only sentiment be one of gratitude for the past. All the experience of Divine goodness in the past is calculated to awaken our hope and give us strong confidence for the future. Surely we are warranted, nay, we are bound to trust in Him who has thus abundantly blessed us in past times, and to cherish the assurance that, as in the past, so in the future He will raise men eminently qualified for any periods of peculiar peril and difficulty which may await the church and the world. It teaches us that this world is not abandoned to the sport of conflicting elements and agencies, to be the mere plaything of chance, or the creature of a blind and irresistible destiny, but that there is a God who watches over its course, controls all the influences by which it is affected, draws good out of that which might seem to be only evil, overrules the counsels of its potentates and princes, and makes everything tend to the furtherance of His own glory and the promotion of human happiness. 2. Our second lesson is one of anticipation and hope. There is no brighter feature in the prophetic predictions relative to the coming Millennium of Messiah's reign, than that in which it is represented as a period of universal peace. But how is this great change to be affected? Rationalism will not do it. Philanthropy wilt not do it. Art cannot do it. Commerce will not do it. But the great work to which none of these influences is equal, the Gospel of Christ will accomplish. That Gospel is destined to achieve universal power, and one glorious result of its victory will be to bind men of all countries, climes and colours, in one holy chain .of friendship and love, which nothing shall be able to disturb or dissolve. 3. Our third lesson is one of example.There are three great Qualities which the Christian soldier should aim to copy. 1. And first, vigilance. Thou art in the presence of a foe who is ever wakeful and ever active — who will not fail to improve every opportunity which thy negligence, ignorance, or slumber may present, to secure the victory and accomplish thy destruction — who never sounds a trumpet of truce, but to deceive the unwary soul, and to lure it on to its eternal ruin. 2. A second conspicuous and notable quality is determination to conquer. In the carnal warfare, every precaution may prove unavailing, every effort useless — the resources of genius and the daring of valour may be called into requisition in vain, and after man has done all, he may find that the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. But it cannot be so in the spiritual struggles. Here victory is promised to thee by One whose word cannot be false, and whose power cannot prove insufficient to accomplish the great designs of His love. Thine, then, must be the holy resolve to conquer in this war — thy course must be ever onward — up-ward — heavenward — continually winning fresh laurels and rearing new trophies — overcoming every varied form of temptation and sin, until the last enemy be vanquished, and the weapons of warfare exchanged for the meeds of victory. 3. Unbending loyalty. Christian! let this loyalty be thine. Be thou true and faithful and devoted to that God to whose service thou hast consecrated thyself. 4. Our last lesson is one of warning as to the vanity of human glory. "Vanity of vanities — all is vanity." And so must it be with you. Whatever your course, in its extent or in its character — be it long protracted, or speedily closed — be it brightened with continual joys, or darkened with successive griefs — the end of all must be in death. This sentence is universal — from this issue there is no escape — and you, who are striving most earnestly after the things of the present world, must know that you cannot retain them, for the day comes when you must die. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the king said unto his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? |
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